Can your trade business appear in Google's AI answers?

Your trade business can appear in Google's AI answers, but you can't guarantee a mention. Start by making your website useful to someone choosing a tradesperson, checking that Google can access it and keeping your business details up to date.

You don't need to buy a separate “AI website”. Google's guidance for generative AI search says ordinary SEO still matters and there's no special AI markup you need to add.

AI Overviews, AI Mode and Maps: what's the difference?

You might see several kinds of result while looking for a local business:

AI Overviews summarise a question in the search results, with links to explore further. They don't appear for every search.
AI Mode lets someone ask a longer question and follow up to explore or compare options, with links to supporting websites.
Ordinary web results link to individual pages, such as your homepage or a page about a service.
Local results and Maps show businesses associated with an area, using Google Business Profile information.

Google explains the two AI experiences in its AI features guide. Its local ranking guidance covers business results on Search and Maps.

A link to your website as a source for an answer doesn't necessarily mean Google has recommended you for a job. Equally, appearing on Maps doesn't promise a mention in an AI answer. Check which result you're looking at before paying someone to improve it.

Give people enough detail to choose you

Imagine a homeowner asking: “Who paints kitchen cabinets in York, and what should I send them for a quote?”

If your website only says “quality workmanship at competitive prices”, it leaves those questions unanswered. Put the useful facts in page text:

The services you actually offer, including any limits on the jobs you take.
The towns or areas you travel to.
Examples of your own work, with a short explanation beside each photo.
How to ask for a quote and what information to send.
A phone number, email address or other contact route that works on a phone.

Here's a made-up example of a service description:

We paint kitchen cabinets for homeowners in York, Acomb and Haxby. To ask about a quote, send photos of the kitchen, the number of doors and drawer fronts, and your postcode. We'll arrange a visit if the job looks suitable.

Adapt it to how you work. Don't claim a service, qualification or response time you can't offer.

For a recent job, try answering these questions beside the photos:

Job: What did the customer ask for?

Work: What did you do?

Details: What would help someone planning a similar job?

Area: Where was it, without identifying the customer's home?

Ask permission before sharing customer photos or identifying details. Our guide to photographing building work for your website explains how to make the pictures useful.

These are practical suggestions for explaining your work, rather than a formula for AI mentions. Google's current guide recommends useful information from your own experience and warns against creating pages for every possible question just to influence search results.

Ask your website provider to check access

A page needs to be indexed by Google and eligible to appear with a search snippet to qualify as a supporting link in these AI experiences. Being eligible doesn't guarantee it will appear. Google's technical guidance explains that distinction.

You can send your provider this message:

Please check whether Google can crawl and index my public website and show its pages with search snippets. Are robots.txt, noindex tags, snippet restrictions or hosting settings preventing that? Please check my homepage in Search Console and tell me what needs fixing. Also check the Search generative AI setting that applies to my website.

In Search Console, Google's Search generative AI control sits under Settings → Search generative AI. It controls whether your links and content can appear in features including AI Overviews and AI Mode. Inclusion is the default for top-level properties; a child property may inherit its parent's choice.

If you want to appear, check that your site's links and content are included. If your website sits on a provider's shared domain, ask them which property controls your pages. You may need their help to check it.

Keep your Business Profile accurate too

Check your Google Business Profile's website link, phone number, opening hours, services and service area. Correct old information when your work changes.

Google's local ranking advice recommends complete, accurate business details and verification. A website doesn't create or verify a profile for you. If you haven't set one up, follow our Google Maps guide for tradespeople to check eligibility and get started.

Check visibility without treating one search as proof

Try a customer question about a service you offer in an area you cover. Leave your business name out. Note the exact question, date and location, then check what Google actually shows:

Was there an AI Overview, or did you use AI Mode?
Was your business named, was your website linked, or did you appear in local results?
If there was a link, which page did it lead to?
Did the linked page support the answer's claims about your business?

Keep a screenshot and the source URL so you can compare later. Google says the answers and links can differ between its AI experiences. One appearance doesn't promise another, and one absence doesn't tell you what's wrong with your website.

To check more than a single search, use Search Console's Generative AI performance report for Search. It shows impressions for links in AI Overviews and AI Mode, with views by page, country, device and date. If the report isn't visible, Google says the site may not have enough impressions; check the inclusion setting as well.

An impression means a link was shown. It doesn't mean someone visited, got in touch or booked work. Ask new customers how they found you and record which enquiries turn into suitable work.

Before buying an AI visibility service, ask for the exact pages or settings it will change and how it will report results. A corrected service description, an access problem fixed or a report of real enquiries gives you something to assess. A promise that Google will recommend you every time doesn't.

For the other part of this series, read how to help ChatGPT find accurate information about your trade business.